In the automobile industry, consumers typically purchase automobiles from dealers or dealerships. Dealers often purchase new automobiles from several manufacturers, to sell to consumers. Consumers typically negotiate a lower price than the manufacturer suggested retail price typically referred to as the “sticker price” and/or the price the dealer initially offers. In many cases, the negotiation process for an automobile may include a large degree of uncertainty for the consumer. Generally, the negotiation process is a zero sum process, and because the consumer and the dealer are each trying to get a better deal, there is typically some lack of trust during the negotiation. Accordingly, both dealers and consumers often base the negotiations on established market prices. However, market prices can fluctuate rapidly depending a variety of factors. For example, consumer demand may be affected by economic factors, such as changes in gasoline prices, unemployment rates, government sponsored tax rebates for automobile purchases, etc.
In many cases, a consumer may have concerns that a dealer may not offer a fair and competitive price. Various products and services have become available that allow consumers to perform research on market prices for automobiles. Similarly, dealers negotiating an automobile sale generally do not know the maximum price a consumer will be willing to pay for a particular automobile, or how long it will take to sell an automobile in inventory for a given price. Accordingly, dealers also use products and services for determining and/or tracking market prices. Further, automobile manufacturers may also have an interest in the market prices for automobiles, because the market activity captured as automobile market information may allow the manufacturer to, for example, more profitably determine which automobiles to manufacture, what prices the manufacture should offer to dealers, and whether manufacturer incentives should be offered on existing dealer automobile inventory.